Tag Archives: Amala Paul

Except for a handful of good comedy lines in the first 40 minutes and the performances of veteran actors like Prakash Raj & Jayaram, Achayans is a meager masala entertainer. There are a lot of misses than hits.

Neither the comedy nor the investigation portions are interestingly made. With so many insipid commercial additions (the unnecessary fights and songs) and unexciting twists in second half, #Achayans is let down by poor writing.

‘Amma Kanakku’ by Ashwini Iyer Tiwari, is remake of her own directorial 2016 Hindi film ‘Nil Battey Sannata’ which opened to critical acclaim. ‘Amma Kanakku’ speaks about the importance of women education in our society and about the dreams of the underprivileged people / low class people. The film primarily focuses on the bonding between Abhinaya (Yuvasri), a 10th standard school girl and her single mother Shanthi (Amala Paul) who aims at seeing her in a respectful job such as Engineer, Doctor or a Collector.

‘Amma Kanakku’ does not begin so momentously – we are not convinced with Abhi’s desire of becoming a housemaid or the dumb acting of the School Headmaster. But, slowly the film gains momentum and settles in good pace. The wrapping of comedy and drama in right amount keeps the film engrossing to an extent. The novel plot of both the mother and daughter studying in the same class creates good interest in most places.

There are some highly dramatic and preachy moments in the second half which happens to be a let-down, where we feel like the director loses her hold over the audience in the mid second half. Scenes involving Revathi at her home are completely uninteresting, even though her performance was lively. Despite all these minuses, ‘Amma Kanakku’ does not fail to make an impression. The film does have some good heart-warming moments and a takeaway message, which makes it a simple and beautiful feel-good movie that is definitely one-time watchable. The dialogues look simply blunt in some scenes, but is astounding in few other scenes – say ‘Azhuradhukku yaarukkum kaasu kudukka thevai illaella’, ‘Vaazhkaiyila endha kanavum illaadhavanga dhan, Unmaiyaana yezhai’ and ‘Oru silar un kanavai paathu sirippaanga.. Avangalaip paarthu neeyum sirichidu’.

Amala Paul does the right justification in the role offered; it is one of her finest performances in Tamil cinema after ‘Mynaa’ in 2010. Samuthirakani’s acting as the headmaster looks so odd and artificial, not fitting anywhere into this character who speaks mostly like ‘Major’ Soundararajan. Child artist Yuvasri has done a fantastic job as Abhinaya.Gavemic U Ary’s cinematography does help in setting the right mood in most scenes. Ilaiyaraja’s background score was okayish, whereas the songs are below average and totally impact-less.

Watched 2 good entertainers @Pasanga 2 and @Boologam back to back yesterday… Here are my reviews on both the films 🙂

#Pasanga2 – Movie Review

First things first, a very big bouquet to Surya for acting and producing such a quality entertainer, which will inspire many more star heroes to fund good scripts like this. Following #Pasanga in 2008, #Pasanga2 speaks about the worlds of kids, their dreams, the contemporary education system and the machine life of parents who are not able to take good care of their children.

Pandiraj has tried to give beautiful film in the lines of TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, an adopted version of his own style. This is not a complaint here, because what he has given is a wonderful movie.

Director Pandiraj starts impressing right from the title card where the child artists names are introduced from the scene where the children are seen through scan movements. The director and team must be highly appreciated for the research that they have made about the parents in today’s world, about how desperate they are, how helpless they are and how confused they are in bringing up their children. The scenes like where the parents decide the course and school name even before the child is born, the long queues before every matriculation & CBSE school for admission are few to mention. The scenes such as the parents discussing with doctor and astrologer about the right time for child’s delivery and dialogues about the cheap tactics / strategies followed by private schools to show themselves as the best schools will put you in shock.

Pandiraj has got a lot of good things to teach both the children and their parents all through the film. The first scene, the introduction of Tamilnaadan was a gem. The way the film ended was also excellent, rather than going with a clichéd climax the way the director had chosen to end the film by making Tamilnaadan and his family leave the auditorium (and his explanation) was just awesome! On casting part, everyone did their part best. The 2 child artists Nishesh & Vaishnavi, Surya, Amala Paul, Vidhya Pradeep, Karthik, Bindhu Madhavi and every other actor delivered exactly what was expected out of them. Ramadoss alone looked a little odd as Kavin’s father; and, the cameo of Soori and Seenu Ramasamy looked unnecessasry.

The hard-hitting dialogues were the biggest plus point of ‘PASANGA 2’. Few dialogues to mention – ‘Andha kaalathula School’ai government nadathuchu, Bar’ai ellaam thaniyaar company nadathinaan.. Ippo Bar’ai government nadathudhu, School’ai ellaam private company nadathuraan’, ‘Naanga corporation teachergalai nambala.. Enga pullaigalai namburom’, ‘Kuzhandhainga ketta vaarthai pesamaattaanga… Avanga kaetta vaarthaiyai dhan pesuvaanga’. The only minus points in PASANGA 2 was that the playful acts and mimics by Dr.Tamil Naadan looked so repetitive and uninteresting over a point of time and the kids looked over smart for their age in few scenes. Also, the post interval scenes for about 15 minutes looked a little faltering.

Rating: 4/5

Verdict: A cinematic gem with a tight slap on our education system and machine life. Must watch for all parents!

#Booloham – Movie Review

BOOLOHAM marks the debut of Kalyanakrishnan, director S.P.Jananathan’s assistant. Jananathan has written the dialogues for this film. It is the 4th release of Jayam Ravi in 2015, following ROMEO JULIET, SAKALAKALA VALLAVAN and THANI ORUVAN. The film’s shooting started in late 2012 and the release was delayed for a very longtime due to various reasons.

Booloham revolves around the story of the prestigious, traditional boxing competition of North Madras. The story is about two rival gangs who tries to win a boxing competition title at any cost, and the business mind of media who tries to make money out of both the gangs’ rival.

Kalyan has attempted to give a film alike his master which is high on communism related touches. The film primarily deals with the topic on how the businessmen exploit the innocence of poor people and how does today’s media makes sensational news out of nothing.

Boologam begins with the interesting episode of Madras boxing’s history beginning from British period, then moves on very average until the core plot beigns. The film gains momentum in the mid of first half and goes engaging till the end. Few unnecessary songs and commercial compromises are the only minus points.